Paper napkins are in widespread use, both in commercial establishments such as restaurants, fast food outlets and the like, and in private homes. Typically, paper napkins are placed in some type of holder for neatness and to limit the number of napkins which may be withdrawn from a stack of napkins by a-user. For some commercial napkin dispensers, a stack of napkins is placed inside a holder and a spring-loaded plate biases the napkins toward an opening. The napkins are folded in such a way that a person desiring to withdraw napkins from the holder can grasp only the front or lead napkin and pull it from the stack, thereby requiring the user to continually repeat drawing the front napkin from the stack until as many napkins as are desired have been withdrawn. This is a completely manual system; but it is one which is in widespread use in many restaurants and fast food outlets throughout the world.
Napkins which are designed for home use, however, typically are placed in open containers which allow a person to withdraw a napkin, either from the top of a horizontally oriented stack, or from the front edge of a vertically oriented stack. In either case, more than one napkin may be withdrawn at a time because it is difficult to grasp only the top or lead napkin from the stack. Consequently, it becomes necessary for the user to replace napkins in excess of the number desired back into the stack, or the excess number of napkins withdrawn simply is wasted. Neither of these results are desirable.
A number of devices have been devised for storing and disposing individual articles, such as napkins, paper towels and newspapers. Most of these devices are designed to deliver the stored articles one at a time, upon demand by a user. Three United States patents to Fernandez U.S. Pat. No. 1,486,079; Bullard U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,255; and LaSpina U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,134, are directed to devices for dispensing newspapers or napkins by means of friction rollers biased downwardly (either by gravity or some other means) onto the top of the stack of items to be dispensed. Rotation of the roller, in all of the devices disclosed in these patents, then pulls the top item off the stack and delivers it from the device. In the LaSpina patent, the roller is biased by means of gravity onto the top of a stack of newspapers, which are placed on a solid or fixed base. In the Fernandez and Bullard devices, a spring on the bottom of the stack pushes the stack of articles up into contact with a roller, which then is rotated to dispense the top article from the stack.
Four United States patents, to Couden U.S. Pat. No. 2,639,959; Powers U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,536; Powers U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,817; and Adams U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,724, are directed to friction rollers which are located on the bottom of a stack (in most cases, a stack of coffee filters) to remove an item from the bottom of the stack and to dispense it from the container holding the items. Rotating friction rollers are used in both of the Powers patents, and in the Couden device. In the device of Adams, a rotating lever is used to pick off the bottom coffee filter and deliver it out of the bottom of the container.
The United States patents to Parsons U.S. Pat. No. 1,553,954; Pratt U.S. Pat. No. 1,703,594; Carroll U.S. Pat. No. 1,752,885; and Gothreau U.S. Pat. No. 3,177,694 are directed to devices using rotating drums to remove an article, such as a napkin, from one side of a vertical stack (edge-stacked articles) to deliver it, either upwardly or downwardly, out of the container holding the stack of articles. Springs or gravity plates are used to press the stack of articles into the roller; so that the roller snugly engages the next item to be delivered from the container until all of the items have been removed from the container.
These patents disclose mechanisms of varying degrees of complexity; and two of them, Pratt and Gothreau, function to provide a fold in the article which is being removed from the container. The Pratt device basically employs a pair of rotating drums to effect the delivery.
Another United States patent, to Rodesch U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,581, employs a roller rotated one way and then another, on the bottom of a stack of articles to pull a bottom napkin from the stack and deliver it from the bottom of the container. United States patent application publication U.S. 2001/0032859A1 also is directed to a napkin dispenser for dispensing vertical or edge stacked napkins one at a time from an open-topped napkin holder. A friction roller having a number of pins or projections on it is rotated against the forward napkin of the stack to push it upwardly out of the container. The stack of napkins is pressed against the roller by means of a gravity-biased plate located at the rear of the stack. The roller is mounted inside the container on a shaft extending through opposite sides of the container; and various mechanisms are used to rotate the roller to lift the napkin out of the container. The mechanisms for operating the roller, in some cases, are relatively complex arrangements of levers, pulleys and belts; and the roller itself occupies a substantial amount of space within the container; so that the overall structure is somewhat bulky.
It is desirable to provide an easy to use napkin dispenser which is simple, both in construction and operation, and which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved device for dispensing articles from a stack of articles.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved napkin dispenser.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide an improved napkin dispenser for dispensing napkins one at a time from a stack of napkins.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved napkin dispensing kit allowing a user to choose different mechanisms for effecting the dispensing of napkins one at a time from a stack of napkins.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a napkin dispenser includes a substantially flat base member adapted to be placed on a horizontal surface to hold a stack of napkins oriented with the lower edges of the napkins resting on the base member. A substantially flat front plate is attached to the base member and extends upwardly from the base member. A device is provided to urge a stack of napkins toward engagement with the front plate; and a movable friction member is mounted on the front plate for moving a napkin adjacent the front plate upwardly to remove the napkin from the stack of napkins.
The napkin dispenser may be provided in the form of a kit having a plurality of front plates which may be removably attached to the base member, with each of the plurality of front plates carrying a different mechanism for operating the movable friction member.